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Tuesday,
May 29, 2001, Chandigarh, India   |
Enron rejects MSEB legal notice UPCC chief to stay: CWC TDP for hike in farm subsidies |
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HC accepts apology of ‘Wah India’ Editor 47 die as code blocks anti-malaria drive |
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Three Nagpur corporators held PM’s invitation courageous: RSS Prabhakar
may be declared proclaimed offender Ramai threatens action on quota Employees’ strike
on July 25 Swamy’s
PIL against Jaya CBSE to introduce grading system 12 hurt in clash Bombs hurled at priest NCC cadets’ Singapore bound
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Enron rejects MSEB legal notice Mumbai, May 28 In a three-page response to the MSEB’s May 24 legal notice, Enron India Managing Director K. Wade Cline has said, “The legal notice is not acceptable to us, as according to the PPA, the MSEB does not have the right to rescind the agreement”, state government sources told PTI here today. The letter, dated May 26, also asks the MSEB to comply with the “sanctity” of the PPA: “Please confirm that the board would also pay all DPC dues, including the disputed Rs 213 crore for December and January bills plus the interest”. In its notice, the MSEB has questioned the legal validity of the entire PPA as per the Indian Contracts Act (ICA), 1872, and later also went a step further by filing a petition in the MERC. “Other than the non-acceptance of our legal notice, the DPC has continued its demand for an escrow account, knowing fully well that the MSEB has filed a caveat in the Mumbai High Court for not activating the same”, sources said. The DPC had also demanded an increase in LC (letter of credit) amount in line with the PPA, as the MSEN was supposed to do 21 days before the firing of its second phase on June 6, they said. Interestingly, the sources said, there was no mention of the DPC paying Rs 401 crore penalty and a subsequent rebate for December and January bills. The DPC also reiterated that the 2,194 mw power station was a “base” load one and could not be treated as “peak” load. It took a minimum six hours to ramp up to full capacity. In its notice, the MSEB had alleged that the DPC had not been able to conform to certain dynamic characteristics and operations of the PPA and time and again had failed to comply with the same, they added. “As per the ICA, such a confession amounts to material misrepresentation of facts, which in this case has been knowingly committed by the DPC”, the sources informed. The DPC has denied this very charge saying, “there has been no material misrepresentation of facts as alleged by the MSEB in the avoidance notice”. The multinational has also expressed disappointment at the loss-making board’s “repeated attempts to create a situation allowing it to claim rebates for alleged misdeclarations” about the capacity of the $ 3 billion power station.
PTI |
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UPCC chief to stay: CWC New Delhi, May 28 The first meeting of the Congress Working Committee in the post-Assembly election scenario, which lasted for over three hours, devoted much of its time today deliberating on the party’s preparations for the forthcoming assembly poll in Uttar Pradesh with the party President Sonia Gandhi ruling out the replacement of UPCC chief Shri Prakash Jaiswal. Indicating its intentions to target the BJP and retrieve support of its traditional base in Uttar Pradesh, the CWC accused the BJP-led state government of fighting shy of issuing fresh notification in the Ayodhya case involving three union ministers. Holding the ministers “guilty” in the conspiracy to demolish the Babri mosque, the CWC said that the Uttar Pradesh Government cannot escape the responsibility for its failure to issue the notification. “Every Congressman in the state would force the state government to get the guilty punished,” senior Congress leader Ambika Soni said while talking to mediapersons about today’s CWC meeting. She said the question of alliances in Uttar Pradesh had been left to a group of senior party leaders who would extensively discuss the issue with the state party leaders. Terming as “inspired leaks,” recent reports on the issue of appointment of the CDS, Ms Soni said the Congress President had formed a three-member committee to discuss such issues in detail. The committee, comprising Mr Pranab Mukherjee, Mr Arjun Singh and Mr Manmohan Singh, would also talk to the Congress Chief Ministers to evolve party’s response on issues such as the identification of foreign nationals and sending of troops by the Centre to states without their consent. She said it had been pointed out at the CWC meeting that due to presence of middlemen, the farmers were deprived of their share of the price of product. The Congress welcomed the invitation extended to Pakistan Chief Executive Officer General Pervez Musharraf to visit India but said that there should not be any third-party intervention in the talks. The CWC reviewed the election results in five states that went to the polls recently. The CWC also discussed party’s poll preparations in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttaranchal. |
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TDP for hike in farm subsidies Visakhapatnam, May 28 Articulating the party’s views at its annual conference ‘Mahanadu’ here, the TDP supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said a nation-wide debate was needed to prepare the farmers to face the
challenges thrown up by the WTO agreement. Pointing out that India was unable to
formulate an effective mechanism of subsidies and import restrictions, in sharp contrast to the initiatives of the developed nations, Mr Naidu favoured a further hike in agricultural subsidies to protect the interest of farmers. “While the WTO agreement provides for agricultural subsidies up to 10 per cent of the gross agricultural production in developing countries, the subsidies in India hardly account for 3 per cent,” the Chief Minister said. Accusing the previous Congress government of signing the 1994 WTO agreement without taking the state governments into confidence, he said this “unilateral decision” had led to adverse implications for the farming community which was pushed into the global market without much preparation. “It is time we have a national debate on the impact of WTO on domestic sector. We (TDP) are prepared to take a lead in this,” Mr Naidu said. The Chief Minister rejected the suggestion that India should pull out of the world body, saying that it was not only impractical but also fraught with unfavourable consequences for the country. “The WTO provides both
opportunities and challenges for our farmers. The success lies in preparing them to face the global competition”, Mr Naidu said. Meanwhile, the party’s resolution on WTO regretted that India was not providing the required level of subsidies for agricultural exports and blamed the USA and some European countries for violating the WTO provisions by providing abnormally high subsidies for their domestic industry. While agricultural subsidies in the USA had increased from $ 308 billion in 1986-88 to $ 361 billion in 1995-96, resulting in a reduction of prices of agricultural products in the international market, the subsidies in India at present stood at Rs 19,860 crore, accounting for a mere 3 per cent of the gross agricultural income, the resolution pointed out. Of late, the country was flooded with imports of edible oil, fruits, fruit juices and other products which would adversely affect the interest of farmers, it said and urged the Centre to impose further restriction on imports. While the developed countries were providing institutional loans at an interest rate of 4 per cent to 5 per cent, in India it ranged from 13 per cent to 14 per cent, resulting in dwindling number of farmers accessing institutional loans, it said.
PTI |
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HC accepts apology of ‘Wah India’ Editor New Delhi, May 28 While Chief Justice Arijit Passayat, Mr Justice Arun Kumar and Justice D.K. Jain accepted the apology saying that they did
not want to be seen as “vindictive”, Mr Justice Anil Dev Singh and Mr Justice O.P. Dwivedi of the five-judge Bench differed on the issue saying that action should be taken against the contemnor as they had cast serious aspersions on the judiciary. However, the Bench was unanimous in its opinion that the magazine in its April 16 issue had cast serious aspersions and doubt on the integrity of the judges and caused great harm to the institution of judiciary. Stating that freedom of the press did not allow media to indulge in “reckless” reporting on any issue especially on the institution of judiciary, the Bench said “prima facie the respondents had committed contempt of court”. Any imputations like this against the judiciary is likely to be believed by the commonman in the streets and would cause serious damage to the judiciary and disposal of justice. The Editor of the magazine was directed to publish the unconditional and unqualified apology in five leading national dailies within two weeks and submit copies of the same to the court within three days of doing so, it said.
PTI |
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47 die as code blocks anti-malaria drive Guwahati, May 28 Senior Health officials said about one lakh mosquito nets could not be distributed in the area where malaria had assumed an endemic form as the code of conduct came into effect. “Even DDT could not be sprayed. Early rains also triggered the disease in the foothills of Bhutan,” they said. The office of the Joint Director, Health Service (Malaria), admitted that the actual death toll might turn out to be higher. The State Health Minister, Dr Bhumidhar Burman, today held a high-level meeting with the Health officials to combat the situation. Mr Burman said the disease posed a threat in the Tamulpur area of Nalbari district, Titabor area of Jorhat district and the Nazira area of Sivasagar district, while a few cases were also reported from other parts of the state. The Health Minister said early rainfall was one of the main reasons for the outbreak of the disease this year.
UNI |
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Three Nagpur corporators held Nagpur, May 28 Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) S. P. Chavan said that the three — Shravan Vithoba Tarnekar
(Ind), Vitthal Shravanji Mahajan (JD) and Vikas Shankarrao Mahajan (Samata
Lokmanch) — face charges of not acquiring sports goods from the dealers and for producing fake bills and receipts to the tune of several lakhs. The scam was unearthed following the submission of the Nandlal committee report, which probed the irregularities in the
NMC. Earlier this month, the police had arrested eight corporators and two relatives in connection with the same scam. The corporators were remanded initially in police custody, followed by magisterial custody and later released on bail. Two education officers and four sports goods dealers had already been arrested prior to this. Education officers of the NMC had allegedly cleared the bills and receipts without actual supply of goods.
PTI |
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PM’s invitation courageous: RSS New Delhi, May 28 Welcoming the government’s withdrawal of ceasefire against militants in Jammu and Kashmir as it was “long overdue”, RSS Joint General Secretary Madan Das there was no sense in continuing with one-sided ceasefire. Mr Das, who is in charge of liaison between the RSS and the government, said: “There was no harm in talking with General Musharraf as the government would talk keeping in view national interests. There would be no mediation. Under such circumstances, there was nothing objectionable in talks with General Musharraf”. “We consider this courageous
initiative of the Prime Minister as proper”, Mr Das said in a statement which would be carried in the forthcoming issue of RSS mouthpiece “Panchjanya”. |
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Prabhakar
may be declared proclaimed offender Dehradun, May 28 “We are still waiting for a formal reply from the Delhi police regarding non-bailable warrant against Manoj Prabhakar. In case he is not arrested, then we would declare him a proclaimed offender under Section 82 of the CrPC,” Uttaranchal Director General of Police Ashok Kant Sharan said here today. Mr Sharan also indicated that the property of Mr Prabhakar, who purportedly is a Managing Director of a defunct finance company in Haldwani in the state, would be attached if he failed to surrender before the court. A Haldwani court had recently issued non-bailable warrant against Prabhakar in a chit fund scam. The Uttaranchal police last week had informed their counterparts in Delhi to execute the arrest warrant. |
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Ramai threatens action on quota Patna, May 28 Mr Ram, who called on RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav and Chief Minister Rabri Devi to ventilate his views on the quota system, said that Mr Laloo Prasad had sought two months’ time to go into the demand for revising the restructured reservation formula in the interest of Dalits. “To me the interest of my castes is above all. For them I can sacrifice my chair,” he said, adding that the state government should have consulted him, he being a senior minister, before restructuring the reservation formula during a Cabinet meeting. Mr Ram said if at all the government was keen to restructure the reservation policy it should have formulated the revised policy on the 2001 census report and not on the 1991 census report in consultation with Constitution experts. He said if his demand to modify the recent decision on the matter was not met, he would take recourse to agitation. The state Cabinet had on May 22 slashed the job quota of Scheduled Tribes from 10 per cent to 1 per cent and distributed it among Other Backward Classes. The Cabinet increased reservation for Scheduled Castes from 14 per cent to 15 per cent, for extremely Backward Classes from 14 per cent to 18 per cent and for the Backward Classes from 10 per cent to 13 per cent.
PTI |
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Employees’ strike
on July 25 New Delhi, May 28 The Central and state government employees will also observe an “anti-privatisation day” and rallies will be organised throughout the country. This was decided at a joint convention of the All-India State Government Employees Federation and the Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers. Releasing the declaration adopted at the convention, AISGEF secretary-general Sukomal Sen and confederation secretary-general S.K. Vyas said under the “diktats” of the IMF and the World Bank, the government was not only putting the employees’ service at stake, but also snatching away the benefits earned through bitter struggles. Swamy’s PIL against Jaya Chennai, May
28 In his PIL, Dr Swamy sought a direction to Ms Jayalalitha to show cause under what authority she claims to use, enjoy and perform the rights, duties and privileges of the office of the Chief Minister.
UNI |
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CBSE to introduce grading system New Delhi, May 28 The Board is holding discussions with experts of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and various universities on the introduction of the grading system. “We are in the process of carrying out an
in-depth analysis for evaluating an acceptable and practicable module of grades. Discussions are also being held with experts from the UGC and universities to integrate such a module with higher education,” CBSE Chairman Ashok Ganguly told a news conference today. UNI |
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12 hurt in clash Srirangapatna (Karnataka), May 28 Inspector-General of Police (Southern range) M.K. Srivastava said a group of film unit people thrashed four local youths yesterday, who after a drinking bout created problems for the former. The film unit was in Arakare to shoot “Samudhram”, a Tamil movie starring actors Sharat Kumar and Murali and directed by K.S. Ravi Kumar. Later, a group of locals stoned the vehicles and damaged several cars and equipment of the camera unit at the site.
UNI |
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Bombs hurled at priest Muzaffarnagar, May 28 A police party was rushed to the site of the incident, which took place yesterday, Additional Superintendent of Police
Tehsildar Singh told reporters. However, nobody has been apprehended so far, he said, adding that investigations were on. Meanwhile, the priest alleged certain unscrupulous people were bent on terrorising the minority community and demanded that security, which had been withdrawn by the administration, be restored.
PTI |
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NCC cadets’ Singapore bound New Delhi, May 28 Youth exchange programmes between the NCC organisations of Singapore and India are an annual feature under the aegis of International and Sea Exchange Programme. Indian cadets will be joined by cadets from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Philippines and Singapore in the two-week-long camp and will take part in activities like camping, weapon, firing, flight simulator exposure, air experiences, sea competitions, canoeing, power boat handling, transportation of boats from one island to another. |
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Relishing the dismal performance of the BJP in the recent assembly elections, the Congress today emphasised that the consolidation of secular forces would continue to be its main priority.
